Australia's sustainable ratings agency is set to ramp up its system for assessing residential communities as it unveils Green Star ratings for a suite of Stockland housing estates.
Green Building Council of Australia chief executive Romilly Madew said the organisation has 45 projects – commercial and residential – undergoing assessment for Green Star ratings with 19 or them certified.
Stockland has achieved five and six-star ratings on seven residential projects around Australia worth $11.86 billion. The housing estates in Victoria, NSW, Queensland and Western Australia will be home to around 104,300 people in more than 41,000 properties.
Stockland's portfolio of estates makes up 37 per cent of the 19 certified projects that the building council has on its books. Others include Brisbane Airport and Curtin University.
Stockland chief Mark Steinert said home buyers were increasingly interested in understanding and making informed decisions about the sustainability of new residential developments.
Stockland conducts liveability surveys of its residents every year to find out what people value and want from new estates and the capacity to walk to parks, gardens, playgrounds, shops and schools ranks highly.
"We've made a very conscious and concerted effort over many years to improve the sustainability of our supply chain, the location and design of our communities," Mr Steinert said.
Ms Madew said projects achieve their Green Star sustainability ratings based on their master plans but progress is monitored through the building process to ensure they are achieving the desired benchmarks.
"There's a governance contract built into the system. Once they are registered we keep certifying them every couple of years," Ms Madew said. "They have to prove what they've done."
The council has been working closely with local and state governments to develop the ratings system and now the federal government is involved through its Smart Cities program.
"It's having a massive impact across the landscape. It's changing the way we think," she said.
"People want to be able to walk to the shops and schools, they want their children to be able to walk to school safely. They're really old-style communities," she said.
The six-star Green Star rating has been awarded to Cloverton in Kalkallo north of Melbourne, Willowdale at Denham Court, south-west Sydney and Calleya at Banjup in Perth. The Grove in Tarneit, west of Melbourne, and Altrove, near Rouse Hill in Sydney, have achieved five-star Green Star ratings.
The Cloverton estate covers 1141 hectares and will include a city centre, train station, eight schools, sporting fields, a retirement village and a community garden. The sporting precinct will be in 130 hectares of parklands including a four-kilometre stretch of the Merri Creek that will undergo restoration.
Altrove, a smaller project, will also include substantial works to protect the Eastern Creek.
The $5 billion Aura development in Caloundra received six-star Green Star rating in March 2015. The 2310-hectare project will have 20,000 new homes over 30 years. One third of the site – 700 hectares – will be set aside for environmental rehabilitation. The land was a former pine plantation.
But employment development is also part of the project. A dedicated Caloundra South economic development strategy will aim to create 19,500 local jobs that will reduce the number of people commuting up and down the Bruce Highway for work.
